For my mosses, this is my specs:
1. Constant 25C water temp (courtesy of 2 fans),
2. Water movement via water output from external filter,
3. DIY co2 (free flow 24/7),
4. 36W PL-L 4 hours a day,
5. Shrimps to clean it.

Don't forget to give it a wash/shake it around; once in awhile. So no sophisticated co2 or high lighting for it. Mosses need clean running water to thrive. Read somewhere a LFS in S'pore actually does WC (25%) on their moss tank every 2 days (and its a 6 feet tank)!!!

Berudu-X: what type of tank do you intend on keeping: planted, fish or both?
Please read up by googling on pros & cons on the differences with regards to both types of filtration systems.

Berudu: If you do get the Resun CY-20, the bio-rings are ok. Just remove the charcoal and replace with Bamboo charcoal which you can get at Slippery Little Suckers (http://www.slipperylittlesuckers.com.my) for details. Bamboo charcoal: you can either break it up or leave it whole, then just add directly into your tank (your moss will be soooo grateful).

White Palace: You spent too much time on your dogs is it?

This post has been edited by geediver: Feb 14 2008, 01:50 PM

No problem, Berudu.

Initially when most of us started we didn't have ppl to advice us, so mostly trial and error. But, nowadays, so easy. Feel free to ask us anytime.

Tadpole: GEX, ADA & JBL soil are priced just about the same. If you do plan to use GEX, I'd suggest you get the 3kg Red packaging one, its shrimp friendly. Why, you may ask. Compare the soil granule size. Easier for the shrimps to push around. Another reason, since you're going for moss & fern set-up, Cherry shrimps are the cheapest and most efficient moss cleaners. Just remember to bring your temperature down to about 25C with a dual fan setup, good amount of water flow, some DIY co2 and light, mosses thrive in well ventilated & clean tanks.

The various websites do say that moss & fern don't need much light or co2, but do remember you're are recreating nature in an environment devoid of water movement.

With addition of co2, light & water current; your mosses will grow bushy and the colors will be more vibrant, trust me I speak from experience.

In my shrimp tank set-up, I don't feed the shrimps reason being there's enough dead particles in the water for it to feed on plus I don't want to add to the bio load of the tank. All I do is top-up water every other day and do a water change every week. Addition of Seachem's Flourish Excel ensures that my plants get the extra Carbon.

When adding chemicals into the water, its advisable to add half the dosage initially so as not to 'shock' your flora & fauna; then increase slowly until you arrive at the required dosage.

When you first introduce the mosses & ferns, also get a few bunches of Cabomba Caroliniana (one of the fastest growing stem plants). Why you need to have plants that suck up the excess nutrients in the water therefore ensuring less likelyhood of an algae bloom.

This post has been edited by geediver: Feb 20 2008, 12:12 PM

ggming: Yeah, we met at one of SLS's ADA workshops. I cabut early due to prior appointment with Noyze.

Inv: If you're ever around, when would you like the mosses la? They growing out of control dy!!!

Tomorrow, RE-SCAPE DAY!!!!!!

This post has been edited by geediver: Feb 21 2008, 12:53 AM

In most cases, after you attach the lighting system for a 2' tank you end up with about 2 inches of space at the back of the tank for your fan. Unless you get light casings with feet/legs which you can prop the lights up with.

For anyone getting new lighting systems for your tank, get those with legs; so there's enough space between the light casing and the surface of the water.

The fan should be tilted at 30-40° angle from the surface of the water, not placed perpendicular to the water surface. Why? You may ask, simple common sense, if you have the light directly above the fan you'll only be ventilating the water surface with hot air from the lights.

A dual fan is sufficient for a 2' tank because even if you hook up a quadruple fan unit, you'll still only achieve a maximum of 25°C if your ambient/room temperature is 30°C.

Nezu: IMHO, if either the Rotala sp Vietnam or Najan turns reddish most likely its due to the amount of light its absorbing. This may not even occur in another tank with the same water & light parameters. Its what some of us call 'am kong'/luck I guess. Some of my plants don't even have documented red shoots but somehow I sometimes get them turning red once its near the surface. (Mind you, my water surface is 1 cm under my lights). Reason: my tank is vertically challenged not enough height.

One can actually use the glass diffuser, provided you are using a "more than 4-DIY co2" setup. Then there'd be enough pressure. Don't forget to use a check valve to stop back-flow and a bubble counter to further diffuse the gas.

Get Seachem Flourish Excel to supplement Carbon to your plants. Increase dosage to the recommended dosage on the bottle slowly: so that your plants can get used to it, likened to breaking-in your plants. Also sudden addition of supplements may sometimes promote algae growth.

Addition of Ferrite/root tabs, would enhance the root systems of your stem plants. But only use root tabs in your future plantings because your JBL base fert would be more than adequate for the time being.

If you guys wanna go marine then get the biggest tank you guys can afford, or else if its only 3 feet, not really viable in terms of budget plus you will only have a minimum amount of marine life. IMHO, a 'high' tank is the better choice for a marine tank, the ability to re-create a coral wall is more stunning than rock islands formation.

If you're interested to look at marine life in the wild, head on over to Sphere Divers, these photos belong to a friend of mine. The photo album is from his extensive collection of diving photos.

This post has been edited by geediver: Mar 7 2008, 09:16 PM

Err... chong82, go to LFS List for near complete list for what you looking for, especially the address for the LFS in Subang.

Btw, your hairgrass planting looks too bushy. plant 1-2 only not 3-5. I'm sure you already trimmed back on the hairgrass before planting. Add more stem plants in the tank, get as much as you possibly can.

Advice #1: If buying stem plants are too expensive, just head on to the nearest fishing pond, you can get free Cabomba, to see what it looks like click HERE. Before you add the plants that you get from the pond into your tank, make sure you wash it and then leave it to soak overnight. Just in case, you might end up with extra parasites like snails.

The white sand is too straight, and I believe its Silica sand (not sure though) but its gonna screw up your water parameters. I had that once, and 1 week after adding, algae bloom! So I don't use it anymore instead I use Shirui sand (get it at Slippery Little Suckers, Ara Damansara - look at the LFS List for complete address)

Nezu: I damn jealous look at your jungle....

chong: Your stem plant in the front right forward of the moss covered DW, its going to overtake your background plants in about 1 month. Suggestion: When you trim, trim as low as possible, then cucuk the new trimmings at the back. Why? So the old plants will have 2 shoots instead of one, and if you lighting and fert enough you gonna have nice bush soon

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Added on March 14, 2008, 7:47 pmOh ya... DON'T add any fauna YET!

This post has been edited by geediver: Mar 14 2008, 07:47 PM

Chong: what you DON'T want is the ammonia spike!!! So don't go praying for that to happen. In a fishless/food-less tank, ammonia can be gotten from dead/rotting leaves/plants. To avoid any excessive ammonia in the water column, try to do 10% WC at least once a week. The main purpose of a WC is to dilute 'xx%' of the existing water. Don't do more than 10% in the first 3 months though, IMHO.

Also make sure you top up the water, make a small marking anywhere on the tank so that you'll be reminded visually to top up the water. Topping up water also dilutes excessive chemicals in the water column.

WC is recommended whenever you trim your plants. Just use a small tubing attached to something solid like a chopstick and suck the extra dead objects from between the leaves, on the soil/sand. Why the chopstick, well its better than sticking your hand in there right. Since your hand will cause excessive water movement thereby disturbing the substrate, then water murky for awhile. Good to use tubing coz there will come a time when your plants are more compact than now, and you'll need to get in between them.

I've said over and over again regarding moss growth, they LOVE clean water with water movement.

Another thing, once you've setup everything stop moving things around in your tank, let it stabilize and commence growth. After 2 months or so, you can try getting a pot of Blyxa Japonica --> reason: Blyxa is one of the fussiest plants I've planted, it requires matured substrate. Just cucuk all in one place and a month later you should be able to see 1 super bushy plant.

pH = 6.4? heheheh mine is just about the same too. And I live in USJ and this is what happens when I use normal unfiltered tap water to replenish my tank. Heheheh...



Sorry Nezu, hijack with my tank pix.

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Added on March 18, 2008, 2:35 pmBtw, who wants moss???

This post has been edited by geediver: Mar 18 2008, 02:35 PM

Maybe my household piping old dy... Ever since I started from my goldfish days until planted tanks, I've never used RO or filtered water for my tanks. I think if I change to better water, all my flora & fauna take holiday and move to dry-land

zoe: what moss you want? Take a look at my pix on top somewhere, put arrow to which one you want, then PM me. We discuss how you wanna pay in PM eheheh

Yo Zoe: you go redah the hutan in melaka la, or you go to Air Keroh forest reserve bring small plastic bag you see any moss growing underwater you belasah la. Free, just don't get caught la. ehehehe... err that's what I did in Bukit Tinggi the other day.

I was there yesterday missed the prize presentation by half hour... Nasir's tank definitely rocks la! Bugger 1 look at the rooting system of his dwarf hairgrass also I damn jealous sial. I guess all he did was drain water, bring the whole tank to MidValley and then add water and watch the rest struggle. Anyway, if Nasir comes in here "Yo dude you rock!!!"

I use small piece of sponge to clean the angles where the glass meet. the blade thingy to scrape the glass especially for green spot algae on the glass

pinchboyz: next time use smaller ISO to take picture so the shrimp stand out on the dark background eheheh